‘I dreamed of the desert and the sun and the big house in Phoenix with the palm tree in the front and the orange trees and oleanders in the back. We had owned that house outright. Still owned it, I kept thinking. It was ours, the one true home we’d ever had.
“Are we ever going home?” I asked Dad one day.
“Home?”
“Phoenix.”
“This is our home now.”’ (154)
Jeannette and her family are constantly on the move. They are rarely in one place for long and when they do stay somewhere for a while the attachment the kids have is hard for them to get over especially when they move somewhere they don’t particularly like. (Example being the move from Phoenix to Welch, West Virginia)
This continuous change of environment shapes the Wells children’s lives dramatically. The shifts cause them to be much more open minded than most, especially when it comes to differences in people. However, the never ending cycle of moving the moment something happens becomes tiresome for the children and they are nearly always poor because of it. Though I’m sure it was fun for the kids at first, it must have been really hard to be always moving and switching lifestyles. Jeannette recalls bullying and sexual harassment in various places they lived and more often than not there are more bad things than good things to say about the different towns. She must have turned into a very strong woman after dealing with such variable condition all throughout her childhood.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Post #13 Form A
Vocab
usurious (111): practicing usury; charging illegal or exorbitant rates of interest for the use of money.
palatial (149):befitting or suitable for a palace; stately; magnificent.
Figurative Language
"...even if we stayed in the basement and kept as quiet as church mice." (149)
This is a simile using the word as. It compares the children's quietness to the quietness of church mice.
"One corner of the kitchen ceiling leaked like a sieve." (153)
This is a simile using the word like. It compares the leakage of the kitchen ceiling to the easiness liquid has in going through a sieve.
"...who had little eyes set practically on the sides of his head, like a whale." (165)
This is a simile using the word like. It compares the boys eyes being on the sides of his head to the eyes of a whale.
Quote
"Sew it up," he said.
"Dad! I can't do that."
[...]
"Go ahead," he said again.
I pushed the needle and felt a slight tug when it pierced the skin. It was like sewing meat. It was sewing meat.
"I can't, Dad, I'm sorry, I just can't do it," I said. (169)
This is significant because it shows the stuff Jeannette and her family dealt with when she was young. Stuff like sewing up an injury her father had gotten while fighting someone.
Theme
Life is hard but know, it can always get worse. But if it does get worse, remember, the important thing is being able to scrap by.
usurious (111): practicing usury; charging illegal or exorbitant rates of interest for the use of money.
palatial (149):befitting or suitable for a palace; stately; magnificent.
Figurative Language
"...even if we stayed in the basement and kept as quiet as church mice." (149)
This is a simile using the word as. It compares the children's quietness to the quietness of church mice.
"One corner of the kitchen ceiling leaked like a sieve." (153)
This is a simile using the word like. It compares the leakage of the kitchen ceiling to the easiness liquid has in going through a sieve.
"...who had little eyes set practically on the sides of his head, like a whale." (165)
This is a simile using the word like. It compares the boys eyes being on the sides of his head to the eyes of a whale.
Quote
"Sew it up," he said.
"Dad! I can't do that."
[...]
"Go ahead," he said again.
I pushed the needle and felt a slight tug when it pierced the skin. It was like sewing meat. It was sewing meat.
"I can't, Dad, I'm sorry, I just can't do it," I said. (169)
This is significant because it shows the stuff Jeannette and her family dealt with when she was young. Stuff like sewing up an injury her father had gotten while fighting someone.
Theme
Life is hard but know, it can always get worse. But if it does get worse, remember, the important thing is being able to scrap by.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Post #12 Form B
“After all he’d put himself through, I couldn’t believe Dad had gone back to the booze.” (123)
This quote shows Jeannette’s father’s continuing fight with alcohol. Despite numerous attempts at quitting the disastrous habit, her father always went ‘back to the booze’. It got to the point where, for her 10th birthday, all she’d asked for from her father was for him to quit drinking. And he had. For a while. He quit and went through all of the withdrawal symptoms. He had had delusions and became quite sick. He spent an entire summer, a Nevadan summer, recuperating yet he was unable to return to the dirty habit once things went south in his life. This habit shaped a lot of Jeannette’s childhood because her father became quite violent once he was drunk and the habit sucked up all of the money the family had. They were nearly always poor once her father started on booze again.
“With Dad drinking again and no money coming in, Mom began to talk about moving east, to West Virginia, where Dad’s parents lived.” (123)
Once Jeannette’s father was drinking heavily it was impossible for him to keep a steady job so he spent the money they had and didn’t bring in any new money. These drunken sprees nearly always led to the family packing up and moving in hopes of a better outlook elsewhere. But the same situation was repeated over and over again.
This quote shows Jeannette’s father’s continuing fight with alcohol. Despite numerous attempts at quitting the disastrous habit, her father always went ‘back to the booze’. It got to the point where, for her 10th birthday, all she’d asked for from her father was for him to quit drinking. And he had. For a while. He quit and went through all of the withdrawal symptoms. He had had delusions and became quite sick. He spent an entire summer, a Nevadan summer, recuperating yet he was unable to return to the dirty habit once things went south in his life. This habit shaped a lot of Jeannette’s childhood because her father became quite violent once he was drunk and the habit sucked up all of the money the family had. They were nearly always poor once her father started on booze again.
“With Dad drinking again and no money coming in, Mom began to talk about moving east, to West Virginia, where Dad’s parents lived.” (123)
Once Jeannette’s father was drinking heavily it was impossible for him to keep a steady job so he spent the money they had and didn’t bring in any new money. These drunken sprees nearly always led to the family packing up and moving in hopes of a better outlook elsewhere. But the same situation was repeated over and over again.
Post #11 Form A
Vocab
Benighted (104): intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened.
Mantillas (104): A lightweight lace or silk scarf worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb, by women in Spain and Latin America.
Figurative Language
"The cheetah licked my palm, his tongue warm and rough, like sandpaper dipped in hot water." (109)
The simile used is comparint the roughness of the cheetah's tongue to 'sandpaper dipped in hot water' using the word like.
"-and over to Beaumont, where the oil rigs bobbed like giant birds." (130)
This is a simile because it is comparint the oil rigs bobbing to giant birds using the word like.
"..the land rolled and dipped like a sheet when you shook it clean." (130)
This is also a simile using the word like. It compared the rolling land to a sheet being shook clean.
Quote
"When dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off, and that was what we did that night."
This quote is significant because it shows the family issure Jeannette grew up with. Her father, a drunk, would often become violent and the entire family suffered from it.
Theme
When life hands you a lemon, make grape juice.
Benighted (104): intellectually or morally ignorant; unenlightened.
Mantillas (104): A lightweight lace or silk scarf worn over the head and shoulders, often over a high comb, by women in Spain and Latin America.
Figurative Language
"The cheetah licked my palm, his tongue warm and rough, like sandpaper dipped in hot water." (109)
The simile used is comparint the roughness of the cheetah's tongue to 'sandpaper dipped in hot water' using the word like.
"-and over to Beaumont, where the oil rigs bobbed like giant birds." (130)
This is a simile because it is comparint the oil rigs bobbing to giant birds using the word like.
"..the land rolled and dipped like a sheet when you shook it clean." (130)
This is also a simile using the word like. It compared the rolling land to a sheet being shook clean.
Quote
"When dad went crazy, we all had our own ways of shutting down and closing off, and that was what we did that night."
This quote is significant because it shows the family issure Jeannette grew up with. Her father, a drunk, would often become violent and the entire family suffered from it.
Theme
When life hands you a lemon, make grape juice.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Post #10 Form B
After a gypsy clan stole Brian’s pogo stick and left a chicken with its throat slit on the doorstep of the family after the Mom got into an argument with the clan leader. Jeannette’s Mother decided to fight magic with magic.
“Standing on the sidewalk, she held up the bone like a crucifix at an exorcism, and called down a curse on the entire Gypsy clan and their house, vowing that it would collapse with the lot of them in it and that the bowels of the earth would open up and swallow them for ever if they bothered us again. The next morning Brian’s pogo stick was lying in the front yard.” (102)
This quote represents Brian’s mother’s superstitious nature. She decides to take the matter somewhat seriously and combat the ‘magic’ with her own ‘magic’. This quote also gives a glimpse as to what kind of neighbors Jeannette had in her early years. At the beginning of the chapter she describes her neighbors as ‘weird’ but this incident really highlights that. This quote is also a good comedy relief type of thing because it comes shortly after the death of Jeannette’s grandmother. All in all it just seems to fit in nicely with what is going on yet it is random enough to require a double take over that section of the book. Kinda neat.
“Standing on the sidewalk, she held up the bone like a crucifix at an exorcism, and called down a curse on the entire Gypsy clan and their house, vowing that it would collapse with the lot of them in it and that the bowels of the earth would open up and swallow them for ever if they bothered us again. The next morning Brian’s pogo stick was lying in the front yard.” (102)
This quote represents Brian’s mother’s superstitious nature. She decides to take the matter somewhat seriously and combat the ‘magic’ with her own ‘magic’. This quote also gives a glimpse as to what kind of neighbors Jeannette had in her early years. At the beginning of the chapter she describes her neighbors as ‘weird’ but this incident really highlights that. This quote is also a good comedy relief type of thing because it comes shortly after the death of Jeannette’s grandmother. All in all it just seems to fit in nicely with what is going on yet it is random enough to require a double take over that section of the book. Kinda neat.
Post #9 Form A
Vocab
raucous (71): harsh; strident; grating; rowdy; disorderly
cajoled (95): to persuade by flattery or promises; wheedle; coax.
Figurative Language
"The way she saw it, glasses were like crutches." (96)
This is a simile comparing glasses and crutches using the word like.
"...making the entire machine dance around on the cement patio."(100)
This is personification because a machine doesn't really 'dance'.
"plopped" (104)
This is onomatopoeia because it is a word which represents the sound it sound like.
Quote
"After inspecting the house, Dad decided that the termite infestation was so severe nothing could be done about it. We'd have to coexist with the critters. So we walked around the hole in the living room floor." (101)
This is significant because this quote represents the Walls' family's way of life. When you must, you deal with what life hands you and make the best out of it.
Theme
Sometimes, even the worst situations can be a blessing in disguise.
raucous (71): harsh; strident; grating; rowdy; disorderly
cajoled (95): to persuade by flattery or promises; wheedle; coax.
Figurative Language
"The way she saw it, glasses were like crutches." (96)
This is a simile comparing glasses and crutches using the word like.
"...making the entire machine dance around on the cement patio."(100)
This is personification because a machine doesn't really 'dance'.
"plopped" (104)
This is onomatopoeia because it is a word which represents the sound it sound like.
Quote
"After inspecting the house, Dad decided that the termite infestation was so severe nothing could be done about it. We'd have to coexist with the critters. So we walked around the hole in the living room floor." (101)
This is significant because this quote represents the Walls' family's way of life. When you must, you deal with what life hands you and make the best out of it.
Theme
Sometimes, even the worst situations can be a blessing in disguise.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Post #8 Form B
I am constantly impressed by the wisdom shown by Jeannette’s parents. Though some of their ideas about things aren’t what society would consider appropriate nowadays they often have excellent pearls of wisdom. An example of this is when Jeannette tells her mom that they should get a “No-Pest Strip like Carla’s family” but her mother refuses saying, “If it kills the flies it can’t be very good for us.” (65) However, some of Jeannette’s parents’ approaches are no longer considered good parenting. One example of this is when Jeannette goes out to play with her friends and gets a large gash. When she show’s her mother the cut her mother says, “Nothing but a minor flesh wound” (59) despite the mother of the girl Jeannette was playing with saying that Jeannette’s mother should take her in to get stitches. Jeannette’s parent’s ‘hands off’ approach to parenting works both ways for the children. Though they grow up in an environment where they learn from their mistakes it also means that when they make mistakes they must deal with all that accompanies those mistakes without the help of an adult. Though her parent’s are more than capable of giving great advice and thinking of things in a way which is beneficial to their children they often choose not to ‘on behalf of their children learning from mistakes’.
Post #7 Form A
Vocab
barite (54): a common mineral, barium sulfate, BaSO4, occurring in white, yellow, or colorless tabular crystals: the principal ore of barium.
tobogganing (54): the noun form of the word is toboggan: A long, narrow, runnerless sled constructed of thin boards curled upward at the front end.
Figurative Language
"Dad said you could read my face like a traffic light." (54)
This is a simile because it is comparing her face to a traffic light using the word 'like'.
"Off to one side was a room with rows of slot machines that were constantly clinking and ticking and flashing lights." (55)
This uses onomatopoeia through the words 'clinking' and 'ticking' which are words that represent a sound.
"Where I tossed in the match, a cone of flame shot up with a whoosh like a jet after burner." (61)
This sentence uses both onomatopoeia with the word 'whoosh' and simile when comparing the 'flame shooting up' to 'a jet after burner' using the word 'like'.
Quote
" I thought Dad would be furious, but he wasn't. He was sort of quiet. We stood on the street watching the flames devour the shack. Dad had an arm around each of us." (61)
This quote is significant because it shows how even her dad, the father she looked up to, could be shaken up.
Theme
It's good to get out in the world, to live in it, but it's also good to be wary of it.
barite (54): a common mineral, barium sulfate, BaSO4, occurring in white, yellow, or colorless tabular crystals: the principal ore of barium.
tobogganing (54): the noun form of the word is toboggan: A long, narrow, runnerless sled constructed of thin boards curled upward at the front end.
Figurative Language
"Dad said you could read my face like a traffic light." (54)
This is a simile because it is comparing her face to a traffic light using the word 'like'.
"Off to one side was a room with rows of slot machines that were constantly clinking and ticking and flashing lights." (55)
This uses onomatopoeia through the words 'clinking' and 'ticking' which are words that represent a sound.
"Where I tossed in the match, a cone of flame shot up with a whoosh like a jet after burner." (61)
This sentence uses both onomatopoeia with the word 'whoosh' and simile when comparing the 'flame shooting up' to 'a jet after burner' using the word 'like'.
Quote
" I thought Dad would be furious, but he wasn't. He was sort of quiet. We stood on the street watching the flames devour the shack. Dad had an arm around each of us." (61)
This quote is significant because it shows how even her dad, the father she looked up to, could be shaken up.
Theme
It's good to get out in the world, to live in it, but it's also good to be wary of it.
'Ode On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes' by Thomas Gray
I was looking through my poetry books and found one that I really liked and decided to post it here. It's called Ode On the Death of a Favourite Cat, Drowned in a Tub of Gold Fishes by Thomas Gray...
'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dy'd
The azure flow'rs that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclin'd,
Gazed on the lake below.
Her conscious tail her joy declar'd;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw: and purr'd applause.
Still had she gaz'd; but 'midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The Genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue
Thro' richest purple to the view
Betray'd a golden gleam.
The hapless Nymph with wonder saw:
A whisker first and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretch'd in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat's averse to fish?
Presumptuous Maid! with looks intent
Again she stretch'd, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smil'd)
The slipp'ry verge her feet beguil'd,
She tumbled headlong in.
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mew'd to ev'ry wat'ry god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard.
A Fav'rite has no friend!
From hence, ye Beauties, undeceiv'd,
Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Nor all, that glisters, gold.
'Twas on a lofty vase's side,
Where China's gayest art had dy'd
The azure flow'rs that blow;
Demurest of the tabby kind,
The pensive Selima, reclin'd,
Gazed on the lake below.
Her conscious tail her joy declar'd;
The fair round face, the snowy beard,
The velvet of her paws,
Her coat, that with the tortoise vies,
Her ears of jet, and emerald eyes,
She saw: and purr'd applause.
Still had she gaz'd; but 'midst the tide
Two angel forms were seen to glide,
The Genii of the stream;
Their scaly armour's Tyrian hue
Thro' richest purple to the view
Betray'd a golden gleam.
The hapless Nymph with wonder saw:
A whisker first and then a claw,
With many an ardent wish,
She stretch'd in vain to reach the prize.
What female heart can gold despise?
What cat's averse to fish?
Presumptuous Maid! with looks intent
Again she stretch'd, again she bent,
Nor knew the gulf between.
(Malignant Fate sat by, and smil'd)
The slipp'ry verge her feet beguil'd,
She tumbled headlong in.
Eight times emerging from the flood
She mew'd to ev'ry wat'ry god,
Some speedy aid to send.
No Dolphin came, no Nereid stirr'd;
Nor cruel Tom, nor Susan heard.
A Fav'rite has no friend!
From hence, ye Beauties, undeceiv'd,
Know, one false step is ne'er retriev'd,
And be with caution bold.
Not all that tempts your wand'ring eyes
And heedless hearts is lawful prize,
Nor all, that glisters, gold.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
